LILY FAMILY. 437 



1. SMILAX, GKEEN BRIER, CAT BRIER, or CHINA BRIER. 



(Ancient Greek name.) In thickets and low grounds ; flowers small, 

 greenish, in clusters op axillary peduncles, in summer, or several of 

 the Southern prickly ones in spring. 



* Stems herbaceous, never prickly, smooth; leaves thin, mitcronate- 

 tipped; ovules and seeds usually a pair in each cell ; berries blue-black, 

 unth a bloom; plant, or parts of it, sometimes pubescent. 



S. herbacea, Linn. Carrion Flower (the scent of the blossoms jus- 

 tifies the name). Erect and recurvhig, often without tendrils, or low- 

 climbing, very variable in size, generally smooth ; leaves ovate-oblong or 

 roundish and mostly heart-shaped, 7-0-nerved ; i^eduncles sometimes 

 short, generally o'-4' or even 0'-8' long, even much surpassing the leaves, 

 20-40-tlowered. Moist places. Common. 



S. tamnifdlia, Michx. Pine barrens, N. J., S. ; differs in its heart- 

 shaped and some halberd-shaped only 5-nerved leaves ; peduncles rather 

 longer than tlu' petioles, and berry fewer-seeded. 



S. ecirrhata. Watson. Erect, 8° or less high, the upper petioles ten- 

 dril-bearing or commonly no tendrils, glabrous ; lower leaves bract-like, 

 the others thin and 5-7-nerved, broadly ovate-elliptical to roundish, acute, 

 mostly cordate at the base, sometimes verticillate, sparsely pulaescent 

 beneath ; umbels 10-20-flowered on peduncles about the length of the 

 petioles ; berry 8-seeded. Mich, to Minn, and Mo., and S. Car. 



* * Stems tooody, often prickly ; ovtdes and seeds only one in each cell; 



plant glabrous throughout {except the third). 



•t- Leaves often glossy, [)-9-ribbrd ; stigmas and cells of ovary" (except in 

 S. 2^'<tmila). 



++ Berries red; peduncles rather short ; leaves 5- ribbed ; prickles few. 



S. lanceolita, Linn. Climbs high ; leaves evergreen, lance-ovate or 

 lanceolate, acute at both ends ; rootstock tuberous ; fruit ripening the 

 second year. Va., S. and W. 



S. Walteri, Pursh. Pine barrens, N. J., S.; 6° high ; leaves decid- 

 uous, ovate or lance-oval, roundish or slightly heart-shaped ; peduncles 

 flat ; rootstock creeping. 



S. ptimila, Walt. Rising only l°-3° high, not prickly, soft-downy, 

 witii ovate or oblong and heart-shaped, 5- ribbed, evergreen leaves, when 

 old smooth above ; peduncles twice as long as petioles, densely-flowered ; 

 berries ripening the second year. Dry soil, S. Car. to Fla. 



++ -M. Berries black, often with a bloom; leaves mostly roundish or some- 

 what heart-shaped at base ; peduncles almost always flat. 



= Peduncle not longer than the petiole. 



S. rotundifdlia, Linn. Common Guken Brikr. Common in thickets ; 

 yellowish-green, often high-climbing ; branchlets more or less square, 

 armed with scattered prickles ; leaves ovate or round-ovate, thickish, 

 green both sides, 2'-3' long; peduncles few-flowered. 



Var. quadranguldris, Gray, more common W., has 4-angled branchlets. 



= = Peduncle longer than the petiole, biit not twice as long. 



S. glaiica, Walt. Mostly S. of N. Y., but less prickly than the preced- 

 ing, the ovate leaves glaucons beneath, and seldom at all heart-shaped, 

 smooth-edged, and peduncles longer than petiole ; branches terete ; 

 branchlets iil)scurely 4-angied. 



S. bona-n6x, Linn. Differs from preceding, in the leaves varying 

 from round- heart-shaped to fiddle-shaped and halberd-shaped, green both 



